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Sunday, 28 February 2016

Jim's Column 27.2.2016

I recently had a very
nice letter from Margaret Raven, daughter of the late Les Raven. Les
was an avid reader of this column and used to write to me regularly
with questions. Les passed away in October and amongst his effects
Margaret came across a lovely postcard of a team picture of Coventry
City and wondered if I had seen it.

The picture was taken in 1929 and
shows the team with a large trophy. I believe the trophy is the Lord
Mayor of Coventry's Charity trophy which back in those days was
played for in a friendly game between City and another Midland club
at Highfield Road and raised money for the Coventry and North
Warwickshire Hospital. The games were usually played towards the end
of the season and opponents included Wolves, West Brom and
Birmingham. The 1929 game took place on 29 April and 3,187 supporters
watched City draw 4-4 with Blues with City's goals coming from Jimmy
Loughlin (2), Billy Pick and John Starsmore. I can only assume that
the trophy was retained by Coventry for six months and then passed to
Birmingham for the next six months. If any readers can add anything
else please let me know.

My comments in last
week's column about the fastest goal by a City substitute has been
questioned by Craig Richards. He believes Kevin Drinkell scored a
goal against Aston Villa in 1990, ten seconds after coming on at
Highfield Road. Fellow historian Dean Nelson supplied a video clip of
the said game, a 2-0 victory, and I timed his goal as 55 seconds from
when he entered the pitch. However for over 30 seconds after coming
on 'Drinks' is kicking his heels as Villa's Kevin Mountfield receives
treatment from the trainer but once the ball is in play he nets
around ten seconds later from a corner.

The whole question
revolves around how one defines 'fastest goal'. If one defines it by
the time after entering the pitch then Andrews clearly has the
fastest goal. The Drinkell situation however introduces the concept
of playing time. The game was delayed for around 45 seconds whilst
Mountfield was treated. This was not playing time, it was time that
the referee would have added on at the end of the game because of an
injury.

Therefore if one defines the fastest goal in terms of
the playing time elapsed after coming on then Drinkell's goal is
faster. One could make a case for either definition being valid. A
very inconclusive situation! For the moment I will stick with my
assertion that Wayne Andrews holds the record for scoring 23 seconds
after entering the pitch but watch this space.

I investigated the
fastest ever debut goal in league football and the record is held by
a former City player. In 2004 Freddy Eastwood made his Southend debut
v Swansea and netted after 7.7 seconds. He went on to score a
hat-trick against a Swansea side that included a young Sam Ricketts.

Keith Ballantyne picked
up on my comment that Andrews never started a first team game for the
club and wondered if his ten appearances as sub without a start is a
club record. The answer is yes it is a record, but last season Shaun
Miller also came off the bench in ten league games without a start
but did start a League Cup game. Other players to make a number of
sub appearances without a start are Mathieu Manset (2013-14) with
nine, Dylan McGeouch (2013-14) with eight, and Zavon Hines and Shaun
Jeffers each with seven. Gary McSheffrey holds the record of the most
sub appearances before making a start (11) with Gary Madine (9) and
Callum Wilson (8) not far behind.

I can always rely on
fellow historian and friend Geoff Moore to come up with interesting
stats. He tells me that when Leon Clarke appeared at the Ricoh for
Bury two weeks ago he became the first player to appear at the ground
with six different clubs. The six are Wolves, Sheffield Wednesday,
QPR, Scunthorpe, City and Bury. In five games in opposition colours
he has managed just two goals (both for Scunthorpe in a 2-2 draw in
2012). Danny Pugh, another ex-City man now at Bury has appeared at
the stadium for five different clubs.

Geoff also pointed out
that we have had a 4-0 half-time lead in three games this season –
Gillingham (h), Crewe (a) and Bury (h). He couldn't remember this
happening in his 50 plus years watching the Sky Blues. Before this
season, the last occasion was the final game at Highfield Road in
2005 when they led Derby 4-0 at the break (and went on to win 6-2). A
year earlier, during the brief but exciting Eric Black era, City took
a 4-0 half-time lead over Preston (winning 4-1). There were two
League Cup games where a 4-0 half-time lead was taken, in 2002 v
Rushden & Diamonds (final score 8-0) and in 1964 v Sunderland
(final score 4-2). The previous occasion to 2004 in a league game was
back in April 1963 when City beat Halifax 5-4 and George Hudson
netted a first half hat-trick on his debut with Dietmar Bruck making
4-0 at the break. So in three months this season the Sky Blues have
equalled their record for the last 53 years.

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About Me

I have supported Coventry City FC since my first visit to Highfield Road in 1962. I am the club's official historian and have a regular column in the Coventry Telegraph. Here I would like to enable my readers who can't buy the paper to access my columns and comment.